Method for maskless particle-beam exposure

ABSTRACT

For maskless irradiating a target with a beam of energetic electrically charged particles using a pattern definition means with a plurality of apertures and imaging the apertures in the pattern definition means onto a target which moves (v) relative to the pattern definition means laterally to the axis, the location of the image is moved along with the target, for a pixel exposure period within which a distance of relative movement of the target is covered which is at least a multiple of the width (w) of the aperture images as measured on the target, and after said pixel exposure period the location of the beam image is changed, which change of location generally compensates the overall movement of the location of the beam image.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

The invention relates to an improved method for irradiating a targetwith a beam of energetic electrically charged particles, wherein apattern definition means having a plurality of apertures transparent tosaid particles is used, and by illuminating said pattern definitionmeans with said beam, which traverses the pattern definition meansthrough said apertures, a patterned beam is formed consisting of acorresponding plurality of beamlets, and said patterned beam is formedinto an image on the location of the target, said image comprising theimages of at least part of the plurality of apertures; the apertureimages have a first width, wherein said target moves relative to thepattern definition means along a path within an image plane in which theimages of apertures are formed (or in a direction generallyperpendicular to a propagation direction of the patterned beam).

A method of this kind and the pertinent particle-beam apparatus isdisclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,768,125, which is hereby incorporatedinto the present disclosure as relevant prior art. That patent describesa charged-particle lithography and processing method and apparatusdubbed PML2 (short for “Projection Mask-Less Lithography”) whichrealizes a multi-beam direct write concept and uses a programmableaperture plate system (APS) as a pattern definition (PD) device forstructuring a particle beam, which is extracted from a single source ofelectrically charged particles.

Particle lithography and processing is used in semiconductor productionand micro-structuring applications. In particular direct patterning byion-beam irradiation is a promising concept for the future industrialfabrication of nano-scale devices with high resolutions, in particularthe 32 nm and 22 nm nodes and below. The PD device is, preferably, aprogrammable multi-aperture device. The implementation of a multi-beamprojection optical system based on a programmable multi-aperture plateallows a significant improvement of the achievable productivity incomparison with focused single beam systems. (In this disclosure‘optical’ always is meant as ‘particle-optical’.) The reasons for theimproved productivity are, firstly, the parallelism of the process usinga plurality of beams and, secondly, the increased current which can beimaged to a substrate at the same resolution. Both are made possible bya significantly reduced Coulomb interaction in the beam. Furthermore,the moderate current density related to the projection optical systemresults in an enhanced process rate when precursor gases are used forbeam-induced chemical processes. As compared with a focused beam system,also the reduced heating effect due to extreme beam intensity can bereduced or avoided.

In the PML2 layout as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,768,125 andrelated prior art the position of the patterned beam on the target isheld fixed on the corresponding pixel positions only for the durationone pixel of the target takes to travel under the optical system. Thenthe patterned beam jumps to the position of the next pixel which isadjacent to the previous one. In this manner, each beamlet coversadjacent pixels on the target. This strategy requires a rapid loadingrate of the pattern information, which may cause an upper limit for theprocessing speed of the method.

The diagram of FIG. 19 illustrates this prior-art writing strategy, forthe example of one line of pixels to be exposed on a target such as aresist-covered semiconductor wafer. The pixels of this one line areirradiated (exposed) by a number of beamlets (respectively denoted bycapital letters A, B, C, . . . ), and each beamlet irradiates a sequenceof adjacent pixels during successive time steps. The amount of exposuredose imparted to each pixel is symbolized by hatched and cross-hatchedfields. The cross-hatched fields denote pixels that are completelyilluminated (according to a programmed pattern; subsequent exposures aredepicted symbolically stacked on top of each other while in reality theysimply add up), whereas simply hatched fields indicate pixels in thecourse of exposure. The dose for every pixel is successively summed upwhile the resist moves below the PD device forming the beamlets (see thediscussion of maskless multi-beam writing discussed below in relation toFIG. 1). Each beamlet has the same time interval in which it contributesa partial exposure dose to the substrate, and consequently contributesthe same amount of dose. Every beamlet in a line is used to expose everypixel in that line. In order to switch on and off the beamlets throughthe apertures in the PD device in accordance with this exposure method,the PD device apertures require the pattern information at acorresponding data rate, and the image information has to be distributedto every single aperture on the APS.

The first two frames of FIG. 19 depict the situation at the beginningand the end of one time interval for the exposure of one pixel (perbeamlet), denoted t=0:0 and 0:1, respectively. It is clear from thedepiction that the beamlets are moved along with the target so theirpositions are locked on the (moving) position of the pixels during thepixel exposure. When the exposure of the pixel is finished after t=0:1,all beamlet are repositioned so as to lock on the position of the nextpixels, respectively; the third frame t=1:0 shows the beginning of thenext pixel exposure. The repositioning of the beamlets occurs in a veryshort time, much shorter than the complete time lag Tw betweenconsecutive pixel exposures. (Tw is equal to the time between frames 0:0and 1:0.) The mutual distance of beamlets is 5w, i.e., five times thewidth of the beamlets; but with the prior-art method other integervalues are equally well suitable as discussed in the U.S. Pat. No.6,768,125.

The diagram of FIG. 20 illustrates the timing of the prior art writingprocess of FIG. 19. At the top the beam deflection x is shown as afunction of time t; the beam deflection describes a sawtooth-likefunction over time. The transient oscillations until the deflection isstable after each repositioning are also shown. Below the beamdeflection x the exemplary states p_(A), . . . , p_(E) of five aperturesof the APS (as examples out of a large number of apertures, typicallymany thousands) are shown. Each beamlet A to E will be projected ontothe target only when the respective state p_(A) to p_(E) is low(non-energized, beamlet switched on) as further explained below withreference to FIG. 1. It can be seen that during each pixel exposureproper the states of the apertures are unchanged. It follows that duringone period of the sawtooth function only a one-bit information peraperture can be processed.

The prior-art approach makes it difficult to find a suitable on-chipdata storage layout that is efficient and can handle the required datarates. Currently the use of shift registers is the most promisingsolution for this problem (see US 2005/0242303 A1).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method which offers high throughputrates in combination with a PD design that is easy to implement toovercome the deficiencies of the prior art.

The invention is directed to a target irradiating method as set out atthe beginning, wherein during pixel exposure periods the location of thebeam image is moved along with the target, with the pixel exposureperiods having a duration within which the relative movement of thetarget covers a distance, the distance of advance, which is greater thansaid first width as measured on the target, preferably at least amultiple of the first width (i.e., at least 2.0 times and morepreferably 3 times the first width or more); and after the pixelexposure periods the location of said beam image is changed(repositioned on the target), so as to generally compensate the movementof the location of the beam image during the pixel exposure periods withregard to the location of the PD means.

The invention offers a writing strategy that offers an optimal writingspeed over the target and lends itself to an electronic layout which isrealizable using standard CMOS technologies and allows a simplifiedrealization of the blanking circuitry in the PD means.

The invention provides a PD device for electron beam writing which makesit possible to write with the speed only limited by the e-beam densityand the APS transitivity. Power consumption and data rate to the APS canbe handled within the UMC 0.25 μm process. Currently used architectureswould fail in these two aspects by many orders of magnitude.

In order to ensure that the beamlets expose the complete surface of thetarget, the number of beamlets that expose different pixels will bechosen such that the first width multiplied with the number of saidbeamlets is equal to (or even greater than) said distance of advance. Inthe usual case that there are groups of redundant beamlets (viz., thebeamlets which are in a same line as measured along the direction of therelative movement of the target form groups, ‘redundancy groups’, withinwhich the beamlets have a distance from each other which, when measuredon the target, is an integer multiple of said distance of advance) thenumber of these redundancy groups is chosen such that the first widthmultiplied with the number of said groups is equal to or greater thansaid distance of advance.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the relative movement of thetarget is a continuous linear movement for durations comprising multiplepixel exposure periods. Usually, it is the target which is moved whilethe PD device and the optical system are kept fixed. The target movementmay preferably be a scanning motion along scanning sweeps in a primarydirection.

Furthermore it is advantageous if outside of said pixel exposure periodsthe patterned beam is blanked out in a manner that it does not reach thetarget, but is absorbed at an absorbing means before it can reach thetarget.

In a suitable choice of the relative movement of the target, thedistance made during periods of time between the starts of consecutivefirst intervals amounts to a second width being an integer multiple ofsaid first width. In this case, the separation distances of two beamletswhich are in a same line as measured along the direction of the relativemovement of the target may be integer multiples of said first width, andat least some of said integer multiples may be chosen so as to berelatively prime to the integer multiple of said second width. Onesimple way for this is that said integer multiples differ by one unit.

In a preferred embodiment the pattern definition means comprises aplurality of electrostatic beamlet deflectors, each of which isassociated with a respective aperture of the pattern definition meansand is adapted to deflect the beamlet traversing the respective apertureby an amount dependent on an individual control signal, including anamount sufficient to deflect the beamlet off its nominal path (thuseffectively switching off that beamlet so it does not reach the target).In this case, the apertures of the pattern definition means arecontrolled in a time-dependent manner according to a pattern to beformed on the target by means of a plurality of said control signals.

In this preferred embodiment, preferably, the apertures are logicallygrouped into disjoint groups, and the control signals of the aperturesof each group are applied through a common control line in atime-staggered manner. Suitably, the apertures of each group may bearranged in the pattern definition means along a direction oforientation generally perpendicular to the direction of relativemovement of the target. The apertures of each group may then extend overone half of a breadth of an area covered by the apertures of the patterndefinition means, as measured along the direction of orientation ofgenerally (but not necessarily) perpendicular to the direction ofrelative movement of the target, with the control signals being fed tosaid area of apertures from two opposite sides.

Also in this preferred embodiment, the pattern definition means maycomprise data storage means, where data for activating the controlsignals are fed to and stored in; allowing that said data areindividually read out to accordingly activate the control signals. Thedata storage means may be double-ported, wherein during each pixelexposure period data for controlling the apertures are read out to thecontrol signals through a first port of said storage means, and dataconcerning the consecutive pixel exposure period is stored through asecond port of said storage means.

Another profitable development of this preferred embodiment is to groupthe apertures of the pattern definition means into groups of mutuallyredundant apertures, wherein for each group the control signalsassociated with the apertures of the group are generated from a commonsignal which is copied to the control signals in turn. In this case, thecommon signal may be copied to the control signals with respective timedelays in correspondence with the spatial offset of the respectiveapertures along the direction of relative movement of the target. Inorder to realize gray levels (see US 2005/0242303 A1) the common signalof a group may include information of a gray value to be realizedthrough the apertures belonging to the group, and then the gray value isexpanded into a sequence of non-active and active control signals inaccordance with the gray value which defines the relative number ofnon-active control signals over the total number of control signals inthe group. Expanding of the gray value may be performed before or afterreading out the data from the storing means, and the expanding methodmay advantageously comprise at least one of the following methods:expansion into an evenly-spaced sequence, expansion into a pseudo-randomsequence, expansion using linear feedback shift registers, expansionusing different offsets for the individual control signal bits; or acombination thereof.

Of course, the invention can also be combined with other known writingstrategies, such as an additional global blanking signal whichasynchronously masks the blanker flip flop outputs (see WO 2007/112465).

Furthermore, the plate realizing the array of apertures may be doubledand operated in parallel so that the apertures are arranged in (atleast) two parallel arrays, displaced to each other by a distance alongthe beam.

Another aspect of the invention relates to positioning a target using abeam of energetic electrically charged particles, in particular inconjunction with a target irradiating method as discussed here, whereinduring the positioning method the target is moved relative to thepattern definition means along a path within an image plane in which theimages of apertures are formed, wherein the relative movement of thetarget covers a distance of advance greater than the first width asmeasured on the target, while at least part of the beam impinges onmarkers provided on the target which then produce secondary radiation,and the secondary radiation is detected by a detection system with asuitably high sampling rate, so as to adjust the position of the targetin a manner that the secondary radiation as measured obtains an extremal(maximum or minimum) value.

With this method, preferably, the substrate stage moves the target at acontinuous speed equaling a speed at which the target is moving during asubsequent exposure process according to the irradiation methoddescribed above.

One suitable realization of the markers comprises structures which arepart of a multi-layer structure, and these structures have been formedon the target in at least one foregoing process step. In particular, themarkers may comprise components adapted to produce secondary radiationcomprising characteristic Auger electron radiation, and the detectionsystem employ an energy selective detector adapted to detect said Augerradiation. In another realization the markers may comprise componentshaving a characteristic backscattering yield.

A particular advantage is that the target positioning method and asubsequent particle-beam exposure exposure/irradiation process performedon the target can employ the same pattern definition means with thetarget moving relatively to the pattern definition means in acorresponding manner. However, the distance of advance of the targetpositioning method may be larger than that during the particle-beamexposure/irradiation process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, the present invention is described in more detail withreference to the drawings, which show:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic overview of a particle-beam exposure apparatussuitable for the invention in a longitudinal section;

FIG. 2 illustrates the basic writing strategy of the invention with thebeamlets “trotting” over the target;

FIG. 3 shows a time diagram of the beam deflection for the “trotting”strategy;

FIG. 4 illustrates redundant writing as an extension of the “trotting”strategy;

FIG. 5 illustrates the writing procedure in a combination of theconcepts of FIGS. 3 and 4;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the circuitry of a blanking plate in a PDdevice for implementing the “trotting strategy”;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of one RAM memory in the circuitry of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the data supply circuitry of a half-columnof apertures in the blanking plate in the circuitry of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 shows a time diagram of the controller operation and loadingsequence of pattern data;

FIG. 10 depicts a modification of the layout of FIG. 8 for redundantcolumn information;

FIG. 11 shows a PD device (longitudinal sectional detail) with aredundant configuration of two blanker plate devices working inparallel;

FIG. 12 shows a plan view with the geometric layout of an aperturearrangement designed to incorporate the “trotting” strategy;

FIG. 13 shows a variant of the layout of FIG. 12 with a redundancy oftwo;

FIG. 14 shows an enlarged detail of FIG. 13, with one elementary cellshown highlighted;

FIGS. 15, 15 a and 16 illustrate the use of markers on the target fortarget positioning, with FIG. 15 showing a first stage of initialpositioning and FIG. 16 a second stage of fine positioning; FIG. 15 ashows a variant using buried markers.

FIG. 17 shows a PD device (longitudinal sectional detail) according toprior art, but which may be used in the apparatus of FIG. 1 as well;

FIG. 18 shows a plan view with the geometric layout of apertures in aprior-art PD device;

FIGS. 19 and 20 illustrate the prior-art writing strategy in contrast toanalogous FIGS. 2 and 3, respectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The preferred embodiment of the invention discussed in the following isa development from the PML2-type particle-beam exposure apparatus with apattern definition (PD) system as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No.6,768,125 (=GB 2 389 454 A) of the assignee/applicant, and with alarge-reduction projecting system. In the following, first the technicalbackground of the apparatus is rendered as far as relevant to theinvention, then embodiments of the invention are discussed in detail. Itshould be appreciated that the invention is not restricted to thefollowing embodiments or the particular layout of PD system, whichmerely represent one of the possible implementations of the invention;rather, the invention is suitable for other types of processing systemsthat employ a particle-beam with projection stages as well.

PML2 System

A schematic overview of a maskless particle-beam processing apparatusPML2 employing the invention is shown in FIG. 1. In the following, onlythose details are given as needed to disclose the invention; for thesake of clarity, the components are not shown to size in FIG. 1,particularly the lateral width of the particle beam is exaggerated. Formore details, the reader is referred to the U.S. Pat. No. 6,768,125.

As already mentioned, a particle beam generated by a particle source isused in the PML2 system. An illumination optical system forms the beaminto a wide beam which illuminates a PD means having a regular array ofapertures in order to define a beam pattern to be projected on a targetsurface. With each aperture, a small beam is defined, and the passage ofeach beam through an aperture can be controlled so as to allow (‘switchon’) or effectively deactivate (‘switch off’) the passage of particlesof the beam through the respective apertures towards the target. Thebeam permeating the aperture array forms a patterned particle beambearing pattern information as represented by the spatial arrangement ofthe apertures. The patterned beam is then projected by means of aparticle-optical projection system onto the target (for instance, asemiconductor substrate) where an image of the apertures is thus formedto modify the target at the irradiated portions. The image formed by thebeam is moved along a straight path over each die field; additionalscanning of the beam in a direction perpendicular to the scanningdirection is not necessary (except, where needed, to compensate forlateral travel motion errors of the target stage).

The main components of the apparatus 100 are—in the order of thedirection of the lithography beam lb, pb which in this example runsvertically downward in FIG. 1—an illumination system 101, a PD system102, a projecting system 103, and a target station 104 with the targetor substrate 14. The particle-optical systems 101, 103 are realizedusing electrostatic or electromagnetic lenses. The electro-optical parts101,102,103 of the apparatus 100 are contained in a vacuum housing (notshown) held at high vacuum to ensure an unimpeded propagation of thebeam lb, pb along the optical axis of the apparatus.

The illumination system 101 comprises, for instance, an ion source 11,an extractor arrangement 11 a defining the location of the virtualsource, a particle filter/general blanker 12 and an illumination opticsrealized by a condenser lens system 13. The ions used can be, forinstance, hydrogen ions or heavy ions; in the context of this disclosureheavy ions refer to ions of elements heavier than C, such as O, N, orthe noble gases Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe. Apart from ions, the particles can beelectrons (emitted from an electron gun) or, in general, otherelectrically charged particles can be used as well.

The ion source 11 emits energetic ions of primarily a certain species,such as Ar⁺ ions having a defined (kinetic) energy of typically severalkeV (e.g. 5 keV at the PD system 102) with a comparatively small energyspread of, e.g., ΔE=1 eV; however, it is generally unavoidable that thesource emits charged particles of other species as well. Avelocity/energy dependent filter 12 serves to filter out such unwantedparticle species; this device may also be used to blank out the beam asa whole during repositioning of the beamlets. By means of anelectro-optical condenser lens system 13, the ions emitted from thesource 11 are formed into a wide-area, substantially telecentric ionbeam serving as lithography beam lb. The telecentricity of the beam iswithin a range of ±25 μrad deviation from the optical axis at theposition of the PD device, resulting in a telecentricity range of ±5mrad deviation from the optical axis at the position of the substrate,assuming here a 200× reduction system and equal particle energies at PDdevice and substrate.

The lithography beam lb then irradiates a PD device which, together withthe devices needed to keep its position, forms the PD system 102. The PDdevice is held at a specific position in the path of the lithographybeam lb, which thus irradiates an aperture pattern formed by a pluralityof apertures 21. As already mentioned, each of the apertures can be“switched on” or “open” so as to allow the beamlet passing through therespective aperture to reach the target; it is then said, the apertureis transparent to the incident beam. Otherwise, the aperture is“switched off” or “closed”, in which case the beam path of therespective beamlet is affected in a way that it will be absorbed orotherwise removed out of the beam path before it can reach the target;thus, the aperture is effectively non-transparent or opaque to the beam.The pattern of switched-on apertures is chosen according to the patternto be exposed on the substrate, as these apertures are the only portionsof the PD device transparent to the beam lb, which is thus formed into apatterned beam pb emerging from the apertures (i.e., in FIG. 1, belowthe PD system 102). The architecture and operation of the PD device, inparticular with regard to its blanking plate, is discussed in detailbelow. In FIG. 1 only five beamlets (out of a large number) are shown inthe patterned beam pb, of which the second beamlet from the left isswitched off as it is absorbed on an absorbing plate 17; the other,switched-on beamlets pass through a central opening of the plate 17 andthus are projected onto the target.

The pattern as represented by the patterned beam pb is then projected bymeans of an electro-optical projection system 103 onto the substrate 14where it forms an image of the switched-on mask apertures. Theprojection system 103 implements a demagnification of, for instance,200×. The substrate 14 is, for instance, a silicon wafer covered with aphoto-resist layer. The wafer 14 is held and positioned by a wafer stage(not shown) of the target station 104. A detector 15 for secondaryradiation can be used to detect the proper positioning of the substratewith respect to the beam; this is further discussed below (‘MarkerReading’).

The projection system 103 is preferably composed of two consecutiveelectro-optical projector stages with a crossover c1, c2, respectively.The electrostatic lenses 30 used to realize the projectors are shown inFIG. 1 in symbolic form only as technical realizations of electrostaticimaging systems are well known in the prior art. The first projectorstage images the plane of the apertures of the PD device to anintermediate image which in turn is imaged onto the substrate surface bymeans of the second projector stage. Both stages employ a demagnifyingimaging through crossovers c1,c2; thus, while the intermediate image isinverted, the final image produced on the substrate is upright(non-inverted). The demagnification factor is about 14× for both stages,resulting in an overall demagnification of 200×. A demagnification ofthis order is in particular suitable with a lithography setup, in orderto alleviate problems of miniaturization in the PD device. Theelectrooptical lenses are mainly composed of electrostatic electrodes,but magnetic lenses may also be used.

As a means to introduce a small lateral shift to the image, i.e. along adirection perpendicular to the optical axis cx, deflection means 16 areprovided in one or both of the projector stages. Such deflection meanscan be realized as, for instance, a multipole electrode system, asdiscussed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,768,125. Additionally, a magnetic coilmay be used to generate a rotation of the pattern in the substrate planewhere needed. The lateral deflections are quite small in comparison tothe lateral width of the patterned beam bp itself. Even though thelateral deflections that are required with the invention are a multipleof the width of a single beamlet, that distance will still be at leastone order of magnitudes below the beam width since the lateral dimensionof one beamlet is considerably smaller than that of the beam bp seen asa whole.

By controlling the pattern formed in the PD system 102, an arbitrarybeam pattern can be generated and transferred to a substrate. Suitably,a scanning stripe exposure strategy, where the substrate is moved underthe incident beam, is utilized so a beam-scanning strategy is notrequired, where the position of the beam is perpetually changed and thusthe beam is effectively scanned over the (more or less resting) targetsurface like in case of a single focused beam system.

FIG. 17 shows a longitudinal section detail of one possible realizationof the PD system 102 in a two-plate arrangement. The layout shown isknown from prior art but is suitable to use with the inventionnonetheless. A first plate 201 is an aperture plate having a set ofapertures 21; only three out of a large number of apertures are shown.The plate 201, through its apertures 21, defines a corresponding numberof beamlets b1, b2, b3. The apertures 21 are imaged to the target asmentioned earlier. The apertures 21 are arranged in a systematic mannerforming staggered lines running parallel to a direction whichcorresponds to the relative movement of the images of the apertures overthe target as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,768,125. In each line theoffset between consecutive apertures is preferably a multiple of thewidth of the aperture, while the lines run immediately side by side suchthat the aperture images completely cover the target in the course ofthe scanning movement over the target.

The second plate 202 of the PD system 102 is called blanking plate. Ithas a set of openings whose positions correspond to those of theapertures 21 in the aperture plate 201, but whose widths are greater sothe beamlets pass through them without affecting the blanking platematerial. The openings in the blanking plate 202 are provided withelectrodes 221 so as to impart a small but sufficient deflection to thecorresponding beamlet. Each beamlet can be deflected individually asexplained in detail below. The blanking plate also comprises thecircuitry for electronic controlling and electric supply of theelectrodes. Further basic details of a PD device are discussed in theU.S. Pat. No. 6,768,125 and related prior art, whereas a preferredlayout of the blanking plate circuitry according to the invention isdiscussed below.

FIG. 18 illustrates the plan view arrangement of apertures on the PDdevice typical in prior art. The apertures are represented ascross-hatched squares, the orientation is chosen such that thehorizontal direction coincides with the direction of (relative)substrate movement during exposure (cf. FIG. 19). Along this direction,the apertures are evenly spaced in rows, and between adjacent rows theapertures are offset, so as to realize a staggered arrangement, with theoffset being an integer multiple of the aperture width w. In the exampleshown the offset is 3w, and the pattern of apertures repeats itselfevery three rows. Thus, the pattern repeats itself after 3×3w in thehorizontal direction. As a consequence each aperture has an allottedcell space of 9w², or 3w×3w visualized as squares surrounding theapertures. The writing strategy according to prior art used with this PDaperture arrangement was discussed above with reference to FIGS. 19 and20.

The regular arrangement shown in FIG. 18 may be interrupted by spaceswith no apertures as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,768,125, e.g. to offerspace for the circuitry for the internal processing of the pattern data.

Writing Strategy

In contrast to known writing strategies (cf. FIG. 19) we propose awriting strategy that minimizes data transfers on and into the APS. Werefer to this strategy as “trotting” strategy, because the movement ofthe individual beamlets was found to be reminiscent of the movement ofthe diagonal legs of a horse when it is trotting.

FIG. 2 illustrates the principle concept of the “trotting” strategyaccording to the invention with a first, simplified example. A target40, for instance a silicon wafer covered with a resist to be exposed,moves with a velocity v, while a number of beamlets (only five beamletsdenoted A through E are shown for the sake of clarity) impinges on thetarget. Each beamlet passes the complete dose for one pixel to theresist during one pixel exposure cycle T1 lapsing between the uppermostand the lowermost frame in FIG. 2. Within the figure the cross-hatchedfields denote pixels that are completely illuminated (according to theprogrammed pattern), while simply hatched fields indicate pixels whichare currently exposed and thus are summing up the necessary dose.

The target is moved with respect to the PD device (which is assumed toremain at a fixed position beyond the top of FIG. 2), but the writingmethod requires that the location where each beamlet impinges on thetarget stays locked on the position of a pixel during a respective pixelexposure cycle in spite of that relative movement, even for a movementof the target by a distance covering multiple pixels. As a consequence,the beamlets are deflected accordingly by means of the deflection systemof the imaging optics (deflectors 16 in FIG. 1).

The width of a pixel as exposed on the target is denoted w, the distanceof two neighboring beamlets is N′w, wherein N′ is one more than thenumber N of beamlets writing in parallel on one line. The factor N+1 isone simple choice to ensure that N and N′ are coprime (relativelyprime); any other number N′ which is coprime to N could be used instead.Such a choice of N′ and N will ensure the exposure of adjacent pixelsthrough a run of N′ exposure cycles. In the case of FIG. 2, N=5 andN′=N+1=6. Starting from an initial position at the beginning of anexposure cycle, shown in the initial (uppermost) frame at t=0:0, thetimes are consecutively denoted as t=0:1 where the continuous motion ofthe target has progressed by one pixel width w, t=0:2 at two pixelwidths 2w (not shown), and so on. At t=0:5 (t=0:N), the movement willhave proceeded to a distance of five (N) pixel widths 5w, which marksthe end of the actual exposure. After that, the beamlets are directed toanother set of pixels as shown in the lower-most frame of FIG. 2 tostart a next pixel exposure cycle at t=1:0 (which is a time pointshortly after t=0:N; in other words t=0:N+δ=1:0, where δ denotes a smalltime interval used to switch the beamlets).

The on/off-switching of every blanker in the PD device is controlledaccording to the programmed pattern, during each pixel exposure cycle.For example, if one pixel which is illuminated by its correspondingbeamlet is to receive a dose of 25% of the maximum value, the blankerfor that beamlet has to be opened for 25% of the pixel exposure cycle.

It should be noted that the inclination of the beamlets in FIG. 2 (and,likewise, FIG. 19) is largely exaggerated; in a true depiction of arealistic geometry of a wafer process, the angles of inclination wouldbe quite small and seemingly inconspicuous to the human eye. Moreover,it is also possible (by using, for instance a consecutive set ofelectrostatic multipoles) to shift the set of beamlets laterally withoutaffecting their orientation; in that case, the angle of inclinationwould not change at all. Also, the range of deflection may suitably bechosen to be symmetric around the z axis.

One typical value of the distance N′w between consecutive beamlets atthe wafer is 180 μm.

The positioning of the beamlets on the respective pixels is controlledvia suitable ion-optical devices within the imaging system, for instancean electrostatic multipole. FIG. 3 (top frame) shows the functionalrelation of the spatial deflection x of the beamlets as a function ofthe time. Not all of the time can be used to open the blanker aperturessince the beamlets and multipoles need a certain settling time, denotedTs in FIG. 3, to settle after repositioning and transient oscillations.The settling duration Ts is a small fraction of the pixel exposure cycleT1. The remaining part of the pixel exposure cycle T1, the usable timeTu=T1−Ts is used for the exposure of pixels. The time interval Tu is thepixel exposure period within which to ensure that the appropriate doseis passed to the respective pixels. In FIG. 3 also the time points ofthe frames of FIG. 2 are denoted. Accordingly, the time interval betweenconsecutive frames (like 0:0 and 0:1) is dt=Tu/N (here,=Tu/5), but thelast two frames of FIG. 2 are separated by the duration Ts.

The writing process as described in FIG. 2 implies no redundancy for theblanker layout. This implies the potential danger that if one blankercell fails to work the corresponding pixel is always illuminated or notilluminated at all (depending on which way the blanker cell is defect).

Redundancy can be added simply by doubling, tripling etc. the number ofblanker cells that illuminate one pixel; in general, a K-multiplication.A redundant tripling of the aperture (i.e., K=3) is exemplarilyillustrated in FIG. 4. Note that the distance of those redundantapertures is an (integer) multiple of Nw. For instance, it is possibleto realize K sets of (non-redundant) N′ consecutive apertures, so Kblocks of redundant apertures are writing within one line, and theoffset between each of these K blocks is N′Nw. An alternativearrangement is to have K consecutive redundant apertures in each block,and arrange N′ blocks suitably (for instance with an offset of N′wbetween the last aperture of one block and the first aperture of thenext block); the inter-block offset is then KNw.

In a realistic implementation of the invention, the non-redundant andredundant writing as explained above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4will be combined. A simple example is illustrated in FIG. 5, with N=3,N′=4 and K=2. The beamlets are denoted A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, . . . ;which is a combination of a capital letter A, B, . . . (denotingbeamlets of different redundancy groups) with a digit 1 or 2 whichdenotes the individual redundant beamlets. Thus beamlets A1 and A2 areredundant and spaced apart by Nw=3w, while the spacing between thebeamlets of subsequent redundancy groups, for instance between one Abeamlet and one B beamlet, is a value (nN+N′)w, which is coprime withNw.

Returning to FIG. 3, the time Tu and the particle flow in the beam ischosen such that the maximum dose for one pixel, divided by a redundancyfactor K′, can pass through one aperture within the duration Tu. Theredundancy factor used here, K′, usually equals K, but may be chosensmaller if not all redundancy columns are activated. In contrast to theprior art method as shown in FIG. 20 where loading of information foreach pixel is done individually and the deflection x is reset for eachpixel, according to the invention the usable time Tu within eachsawtooth cycle of deflection x covers multiple pixels. Furthermore areloading of pixel information may occur multiple times within an cycleTu according to the respective gray level of the pixel (see below ‘DataEncoding’), as shown for the pixel deflection signals p_(A) to p_(E) inFIG. 3.

Architecture of the Blanker Plate

In the following an architecture of the electronics for a blanking plate202 is disclosed that allows to establish a writing process according tothe above writing method principle. An overall block diagram of such ablanking plate 60 is depicted in FIG. 6. The blanking plate mayphysically be built from one single wafer die which includes logiccircuits and blanking apertures, or it may be a stack or compositearchitecture of two or more parts. For example, a die that incorporatesthe logic circuitry may be contacted to a die incorporating the blankingelectrodes. The blankable openings are arranged within an aperture field61, according to 2R rows, each row having C apertures. Thus, the blankercells can be viewed as C cell columns running perpendicular to the rows(vertical in FIG. 6; the direction of the rows is horizontal). Thenumber C of blanker elements (apertures) in each row is preferably equalto N·N′ or an integer multiple of that number. The blanker cells areaddressed in a column-wise fashion using two APS memory arrays 62N, 62S(N and S standing here for ‘north’ and ‘south’, respectively), which forinstance are dual ported static RAM blocks allowing a high bit density.

The memories are accessible from the external interface 63 of theblanking plate 60 in read and write mode. A control logic 64 interpretscommands and data passed to it via the external interface 63 andaccordingly performs addressing 65 of the memory arrays 62N, 62S andprovides the control signals 66 (clock, enable etc.) for the blankercells within the aperture field 61. The north RAM data supplies the dataand control signals to the upper R blanker rows and the south RAM isconnected to the lower R blanker rows.

In the embodiment shown here, the memory arrays 62N, 62S are composed ofa number of memory blocks 67 realized by individual memory units. Eachof these blocks 67 is realized as dual ported RAM (DPRAM). Such DPRAMsare standard library elements of ASIC vendor libraries. It will beobvious that in other embodiments, the memory of the blanking plate 60may be organized otherwise, for example in two memory banks(corresponding to arrays 62N,62S) or only one memory, or a number ofmemory blocks 67 may be realized by respective memory units, dependingon the memory size of the memory units.

Referring to FIG. 7, the RAM of each memory block 67 is built of staticstorage elements, which allow a very high storage density within theASIC. The entire contents of each RAM block is addressable through twoports, labeled Port A and Port B, each of which is accessible throughrespective access means comprising an address bus, a data bus andadditional control signals, as further explained below. The two portsallow simultaneous access of the information from two differentlocations. Note that the data width and address width does notnecessarily need to be the same on both sides, the memory can—forexample—be organized in 8 bits on Port A and as 32 bits on the Port B.

FIG. 8 shows the design of a single half-column HC1, corresponding tothe upper (north) half of one blanker column, according to the preferredembodiment of the invention. The blanker cells are denoted Blanker0, . .. , Blanker(R-1) and symbolically depicted as square areas with a smallsquare (the aperture). The lower half of the column is realizedsymmetrically (mirrored at the horizontal middle axis of the aperturefield 61), and further columns simply add to the left and right of thecolumn shown. The blanker information is stored into the DPRAM 82through Port A, and afterwards is transferred to the individual blankercells through Port B as control signal data through the control lines84. Every blanker cell is provided with a 1-bit memory (e.g., a flipflop) to store the current data provided from the DPRAM.

In the layout of FIG. 8 the width bw of the control line data is 2 bits(bw=2), but it can have any other number as well. It is useful to choosethe number R in a way that it is an integer multiple of bw. Highervalues of bw allow a shorter reloading time of a complete column. Theindividual blanker cells are enabled to store the information providedfrom the DPRAM by means of enable-row signals er0, er2, . . . er(R-2) atthe correct point of time, each enable-row signal activating a group ofbw cells. Only one enable-row signal is active at a time, so the data onthe control line 84 is loaded into the one correct blanker cell group;after that, the next blanker cell group is loaded, and so on. Forexample, if R=128 and bw=8, a column can be reloaded within 128/8=16clock cycles. Within a 70 MHz design this relates to a time of 230 ns.

Preferably, sufficient memory is provided to allow an “interleaved”reloading of the blanker cells: The memory of the DPRAM is divided intotwo address areas A0 and A1 so it is possible to reload one address areaA0 via Port A and at the same time load the data stored in the otheraddress area A1 into the blanker cells. In the next pixel exposure cyclethe banks are switched, A1 is reloaded via Port A while A0 is loadedinto the blanker cells.

For efficient writing algorithms as well as for testing purposes it isuseful to provide a static data setting on the control line 84 thatallows switching all blanker cells into the blanking mode (switched-offapertures) at the same time. This is done by means of a “mask” block 83,activated by a mask-out signal. If the mask-out signal is set, the dataof all blanker cells in the half-column shown will be set to 1, whereasin the normal working mode the mask block 83 is transparent to the datacoming from Port B.

Furthermore, it is possible to optionally realize a globalblanker-enable signal, which allows switching all apertures of theaperture field simultaneously, for instance as a signal activating allmask-out and enable-row signals of all (half-)columns.

The present layout also allows implementation of “gray levels”, i.e.,exposure doses between no exposure (minimum dose, 0%) and full exposure(maximum dose at a pixel, 100%; see also US 2005/0242303 A1). The graylevels are realized as discrete steps from 0 to g−1, with g being aninteger representing the 100% level. The number g of gray levels thatcan be realized may be realized in the present layout as follows.

FIG. 9 shows a timing diagram for the controller operation with 8 graylevels (g=8, three bits), time shown proceeding along the horizontalaxis. Conceptually, the time Tu is divided into g time slots, duringsome of which the pixel is activated according to the desired graylevel. For example, with a gray level 5 out of 8, there are eight timeslots in each Tu and five of them are set to switched-on. If the doseapplied to one pixel within the time Tu is digitized into g gray levels,the blanking cells are reloaded g times within Tu. The blanker cellgroups are labeled consecutively by enable-row designators, the graylevel components are labeled g0 through g7. The complete loading cycleof the blanker cells is done within one “usable” cycle time Tu. The datais loaded into the blanker cells at g consecutive times (correspondingto time slots) and activated at the start of the respective time slotsas shown in FIG. 9; simultaneously, the next set of data for thefollowing exposure cycle is loaded. Note that the loading times arestaggered between different blanker cell groups as denoted in FIG. 9. Inthe final part of Tu, each blanker cell group is switched off after thelast gray level slot g7 expires; this is conveniently achieved by meansof the mask block 83 controlled through the mask-out signal as shown inFIG. 8. The switched-off state continues until the first gray level slotg0 of the next exposure cycle is loaded and activated. The timingdiagram shown provides an optimal dose preparation by the APS.

In FIG. 3, below the depiction of the time-dependent deflection x,examples for data streams of five different apertures during the time Tuare illustrated. These data streams can be generated directly on the APSfrom the gray level data. This method is explained in more detail withinthe following section.

Data Encoding

In actual applications, the patterns to be generated comprise graylevels, realizing g gray levels ranging from 0 to 100% of a fullexposure of a pixel. Since for g gray levels g bits will have to bestored within the SRAM, this incurs an overhead within the data. Tolower the data rate via the external interface it is possible to sendonly the gray level G (G=1d(g) bits) to the APS and to provide a dataexpansion from a gray level (a G-bit number) to the g aperture bitsinside the APS. This may be done before the data is stored within theDPRAM or when reading the data from the DPRAM and passing it to theblanker cells.

In the case that the data are first expanded and then stored in theDPRAM, each gray level has to be converted into a vector of bits.Successive vectors (i.e. vectors of neighboring apertures) are arrangedinto a matrix. After collecting a certain number, for convenience thesame number as gray levels are used to obtain a g×g matrix, the matrixhas to be transposed (changing rows and columns) and written to theDPRAM.

Expansion after storing in the DPRAMs (“late extraction”), on the otherhand, saves memory area, and the controller does not need to change thedata format from the data provided via the external interface.

FIG. 10 depicts one basic logic layout realizing late extraction withredundant columns. Two corresponding half-columns are shown in FIG. 10and denoted HC1.0 and HC2.0, respectively. (For the sake of clarity,only two columns which are redundant as explained with reference to FIG.4 are shown in FIG. 10; the second column HC2.0 is representative forall further redundant columns. The remaining columns, in particularcolumns providing writing of further non-redundant pixels, aresuppressed.) An additional time signal 840 is used, which is common toall columns and is updated after each gray-level slot. The DPRAM logic871 for the first column HC1.0 derives, from the data received, the fulldata of width G·bw for the set of redundant half-columns. An extractor841 expands the gray level information and extracts the single bit data(bw bits) for the first half-column 1.0 based on the time signal asfurther explained below. The full data of width G·bw are passed to theDPRAM of the next redundant column HC2.0. The DPRAM logic 872 of thehalf-column HC2.0 can therefore use the copied data in the nextillumination cycle; only the address data are supplied from the controllogic. The procedure is repeated in an analogous manner for furtherredundant half-columns (not shown) as with column HC2.0.

Note that since the columns HC1.0, HC2.0 are designed for redundantwriting, they will necessarily operate with identical gray-level data;the expansion of gray level information into individual on/offinformation is done in the respective extractors 841, 842. In the layoutshown in FIG. 10, the DPRAM of column 1.0 also provides a bufferingfunctions for the data input from the control logic.

For the data expansion different algorithms can be used, as for examplealgorithms to generate pseudorandom sequences, distributing the “on”time of the redundant apertures equally over Tu in a quasi-stochasticmanner.

The time information 840 is used by the extractors 841, 842 forgenerating an exposure bit in accordance with the desired gray level andthe actual time to obtain the bit sequence appropriate for the graylevel. At every time step corresponding to a gray-level slot theextractor generates bw bits employing or emulating, for each of the bwrows, an extraction function f which takes the time information 840 (Gbits) and the gray level (G bits) associated with the respective row andreturns a bit signal (boolean function); in symbolical form: f=f(Time,Graylevel). The result of this function is then passed as a controlsignal to the corresponding aperture. In a simple embodiment the timeinformation 840 is generated by a linear counter (not shown) which isincremented at each time step, and the extraction function f is acomparison f=compare(Time<Graylevel).

In a preferred embodiment the time signal 840 is the output of a G-bitrandom number generator (e.g. linear feedback shift register LFSR) thatgenerates the numbers 0 to g for the calculation of every bit g of theexposure control signal stream in a random order, but each number oncefor a set of g gray-level slots. Then, the function f can again be acomparison f=compare(Time<Graylevel), which directly relates to thecontrol signal passed to the apertures. The use of such a randomgenerator decorrelates the bit stream for an aperture in time.

A further parameter can be incorporated in the comparison to decorrelatethe data streams between individual pixels. For instance, every pixelobtains beside its gray level information also an individual numberacting as a “sequence-key” that determines the actual bit sequencegenerated for the specified gray level. The sequence-key is keptunchanged during the whole exposure cycle. The sequence-key is used asan offset value added or subtracted (modulo g) to the value provided byrandom number generator before the comparison with the gray level isperformed; i.e., symbolically, f=compare([(Time-Sequencekey) (modg)]<Graylevel).

Redundant Blanking Plate Configuration

One possible (and presumably the most likely) type of failure in an APSsystem as shown here is a failure of a blanking cell due to mechanicalor electrical damage, such that the corresponding beamlet cannot beblanked (always open error). By providing a stack of two blankingaperture plates positioned one on top of the other and electronicallyrunning in parallel, the probability of always open errors will besignificantly reduced. This redundant configuration with two blankerplate devices 202 a, 202 b working in parallel is illustrated in FIG.11. The two outer apertures shown in FIG. 11 are intact, whereas the twoinner apertures have defects in the first or second blanker plate,respectively. Due to the redundant stacking of blanker plates, theproper operation of the two apertures is ensured.

Aperture Arrangement

FIG. 12 shows an example of the arrangement of apertures according tothe invention. This drawing is to be seen in comparison to the prior-artarrangement of FIG. 18 discussed above. In the plan view of FIG. 12 theorientation is the same as in FIG. 18, and the directions of orientationcoincide with those of FIGS. 6 and 8; the apertures are represented ascross-hatched squares. Like in FIG. 18, each apertures has an allottedcell space of 3w×3w. In contrast to prior art, an additional space isinserted between each block of three apertures in order to realize aspacing of N′w (here: 10w) which is coprime with the basic spacingwithin a row (here: 3×3w).

FIG. 13 shows a variant of the arrangement including a redundancy of two(K=2). Each block of apertures is now doubled. The enlarged detail ofFIG. 14 shows the elementary cell of this arrangement. As can be seen,the spacing of apertures within the redundancy group of apertures is aninteger multiple of the basic spacing (namely, in this case 9w), whereasthe spacing to the first aperture of the next block comprises anadditional offset; here, the offset is 1w, so N′w=(1+9)w. Thus, withinthis cell the apertures have a spacing to provide the redundancy and theAPS can be constructed by a concatenation of multiple instances of thiselementary cell.

Marker Reading

The proposed architecture can also be used for reading of markers 41, 42on the target 40. Such markers consist of a material that reflects ahigh percentage of the beam current or produces secondary radiation uponirradiation with the beam so these reflections can be measured by meansof a detector 44 located laterally to the beam. Preferable types ofsecondary radiation may be, for instance, secondary electrons or Augerelectron radiation. In particular, Auger radiation has the advantagethat it provides a characteristic electron radiation at a specificenergy with very low line width, so it is possible to tune the detector44 accordingly.

For instance referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, a two-stage marker readingmay be realized in order to allow a coarse and a fine synchronization ofthe positioning between table and beam position. In the first stage(FIG. 15), for the purpose of finding the coarse position on the resist,a marker coding with a high autocorrelation peak may be used, such aslines arranged as bar codes or with a prime-number marker spacing. ThePD device is then configured to illuminate the marker pattern 41 on theresist, and in the case the pattern thus programmed matches the patternon the target, a correlation peak is observable in the secondarycurrent. Optimum performance will be obtained when all markers have thewidth w, viz. equal to the beamlet width. The correlation peak of thecoarse marker pattern 41 is used to determine the position of a finemarker 42, which is located with a distance to the coarse markers 41 toallow real-time processing of the detector data, with an accuracy ±w.

In the second stage (FIG. 16), the fine marker 42 may be used toincrease the resolution of the marker finding procedure. Since theposition of the fine marker is known to be in a field that is 2w wide,the PD device and the deflectors are configured to step through thisfield with a step width d according to the needed resolution while therelative movement of the target is preferably maintained to proceed atthe same continuous motion and speed as during the pixel exposureprocess discussed above. A first beamlet 1 is positioned at thebeginning of the 2w interval (x=0), a second beamlet 2 at x=d, and so onuntil the end of the interval is reached. Thus, the beamlets overlap andcause an intensity distribution that increases in steps to a maximum andthen decreases again as shown in FIG. 16. Whenever the highestreflection current is measured, the maximum congruence between beamletsand marker has been found. This process can take place independentlyfrom any movement of the resist.

The detector 44 used in the position synchronization should have asufficiently high time resolution which corresponds to the spatialresolution (i.e., w or d) required divided by the velocity v of therelative movement of the target. Therefore, the sampling rate of thedetector 44 is suitably at least smaller than 1/Tu. In order to increasethe signal integration time, the time during which the beam is locked onthe substrate may be chosen larger than the time of exposing one pixel(e.g. 10 Tu) when it is passing the region where the markers arelocated, without changing or reducing the scanning speed of the target.In other words, the distance of advance used in the positionsynchronization may be a multiple of the distance which is covered bythe relative movement of the target during a typical pixel exposureperiod Tu during a subsequent (or foregoing) exposure process. Thisapproach may appear to cause that some pixels in the area immediatelyfollowing the marker region along the scanning direction cannot becompletely exposed, but in fact this will be avoided since the markerswill be sufficiently separated spatially from the surroundinglithography pattern (or microstructure pattern) to be formed.

FIG. 15 a illustrates the use of a variant of the markers, namely,buried markers 411. The markers 411 may have been produced in the courseof preceding processing steps and covered by a coating materialgenerated in an additional processing step. The structuring of themarkers 411 may also have been achieved in situ by appropriate methodssuch as deep ion-irradiation where the ions pass a coating layer andsubstantially only affect a buried layer (which would be the markers).One suitable realization of the markers is metallic layers, preferablyin a multi-layer structure, which are located beneath but close to thetarget surface. FIG. 15 a shows a first stage as explained abovereferring to FIG. 15, but it will be clear that the buried markers 411may be used for fine resolution positioning as shown in FIG. 16 as well.

Summarizing, the invention enables to realize designs using fullysynchronous design methods with only one clock. Although the apertureswill not switch simultaneously (which is an advantage for the powerconsumption characteristics within the chip), the time an individualaperture is opened or closed is extremely accurate as it only depends onthe accuracy of the clock (which is normally within the range of someppm). Further advantages of the present blanking plate layout are:

-   -   Reduced number of flip flops that is strongly reduced over the        earlier PML2 concepts.    -   Number of flip flop switching lower by a factor of in the order        of several thousands.    -   Power consumption is reduced drastically (in the same mode of        operation).    -   Switching of the flip flops is distributed over a larger time.    -   Switching of the apertures is distributed over a larger time.    -   Design is fully synchronous and uses only one clock.    -   Writing strategy allows corrections of the optical system within        the data stream.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed herein, it will be understood that such embodiments areprovided by way of example only. Numerous variations, changes andsubstitutions will occur to those skilled in the art without departingfrom the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, it is intended that theappended claims cover all such variations as fall within the spirit andscope of the invention.

1. A method for irradiating a target with a beam of energeticelectrically charged particles, comprising: providing a patterndefinition means having a plurality of apertures transparent to saidparticles, illuminating said pattern definition means by said beam,which traverses the pattern definition means through said apertures thusforming a patterned beam (pb) having a corresponding plurality ofbeamlets, forming said patterned beam into an image on the location ofthe target, said image comprising the images of at least part of theplurality of apertures, said images of apertures having a first width(w), and moving said target relative to the pattern definition meansalong a path within an image plane in which the images of apertures areformed, wherein during pixel exposure periods the location of said beamimage is moved along with the target, the pixel exposure periods havinga duration within which the relative movement of the target covers adistance of advance greater than the first width as measured on thetarget, and after said pixel exposure periods the location of said beamimage is changed with respect to the target, said change of locationgenerally compensating the movement of the location of the beam imageduring the pixel exposure periods with regard to the location of thepattern definition means.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein saiddistance of advance is at least a multiple of said first width.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said distance of advance is smaller than orequal to the distance between neighboring beamlets along the directionof the relative movement.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the beamletswhich are in a same line as measured along the direction of the relativemovement of the target form groups of at least one beamlet, the beamletswithin each group of more than one beamlet having a distance from eachother which, when measured on the target, is an integer multiple of saiddistance of advance, and wherein the number of said groups is chosensuch that the first width multiplied with the number of said groups isequal to or greater than said distance of advance.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the relative movement of the target is a continuouslinear movement within time intervals comprising multiple pixel exposureperiods.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein outside of said pixelexposure periods the patterned beam is blanked out in a manner that itis absorbed at an absorbing means before it can reach the target.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the relative movement of the target during aperiod of time between the starts of consecutive pixel exposure periodsamounts to a second width (Nw) being an integer multiple of said firstwidth.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the distances of two beamletswhich are in a same line as measured along the direction of the relativemovement of the target are integer multiples (N′w) of said first width,and at least some of said integer multiples are relatively prime to theinteger multiple of said second width.
 9. The method of claim 8, whereinsaid integer multiples differ by one unit.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the target moves relative to the pattern definition means alonga direction generally perpendicular to a propagation direction of thepatterned beam.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the patterndefinition means comprises a plurality of electrostatic beamletdeflectors, each of which is associated with a respective aperture ofthe pattern definition means and is controlled by an individual controlsignal and is configured to deflect the beamlet traversing therespective aperture by an amount sufficient to deflect the beamlet offits nominal path when activated by the respective control signal, andthe apertures of the pattern definition means are controlled in atime-dependent manner according to a pattern to be formed on the targetby means of a plurality of said control signals.
 12. The method of claim11, wherein based on a grouping of the apertures into disjoint groupsthe control signals of the apertures of each group are applied through acommon control line in a time-staggered manner.
 13. The method of claim12, wherein the apertures of each group are arranged in the patterndefinition means along a direction of orientation across the directionof relative movement of the target.
 14. The method of claim 13, whereinthe apertures of each group extend over one half of a breadth of an areacovered by the apertures of the pattern definition means, as measuredacross the direction of relative movement of the target, and the controlsignals are being fed to said area of apertures from two opposite sides.15. The method of claim 11, wherein data for activating said controlsignals are fed to and stored in data storage means of the patterndefinition means, and said data are individually read out to accordinglyactivate the control signals.
 16. The method of claim 15, usingdouble-ported data storage means, wherein during each pixel exposureperiod data for controlling the apertures is read out to the controlsignals through a first port of said storage means, and data concerningthe consecutive pixel exposure periods is stored through a second portof said storage means.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the aperturesof the pattern definition means are grouped into groups of mutuallyredundant apertures, wherein for each group the control signalsassociated with the apertures of the group are generated from a commonsignal which is copied to the control signals in turn.
 18. The method ofclaim 17, wherein the common signal is copied to the control signalswith respective time delays in correspondence with the spatial offset ofthe respective apertures along the direction of relative movement of thetarget.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the common signal of a groupincludes information of a gray value to be realized through theapertures belonging to the group, and the gray value is expanded into asequence of non-active and active control signals, the gray valuedefining the relative number of non-active control signals over thetotal number of control signals in the group.
 20. The method of claim19, wherein the expanding of the gray value is performed after readingout the data from the storing means.
 21. The method of claim 19, whereinthe expanding of the gray value into a sequence of control signalscomprises at least one of the following methods: expansion into anevenly-spaced sequence, expansion into a pseudo-random sequence,expansion using linear feedback shift registers, expansion usingdifferent offsets for the individual control signals; or a combinationthereof.
 22. The method of claim 11, wherein the apertures are arrangedin at least two parallel arrays, displaced to each other by a distancealong the beam, the apertures of the parallel arrays being operated inparallel.